Open Thread - Thurs 18 Sep 2025 - Brake Check
Brake Check
One of the things that shows exactly how old I am is that I didn't really know what a 'brake check' was, at least on the roads of today, until I started watching dashcam video compilations on youtube like Dashcam Lessons or Dashcam Nation.
A Dashcam Lessons Video - with some brake checks.
So, a brake check is when a driver 'abruptly applies the brakes, with intent to cause the driver behind them to also brake abruptly.' They are illegal. Brake checks are considered a symptom of aggressive driving and road rage, and apparently they are becoming a way to rob people of money through insurance fraud and other means. Usually the driver to the rear is at fault if they hit the vehicle in front of them because it's assumed they are driving too close. But, with a brake check, the driver in the FRONT is at fault. However, because we've all been taught the rear driver is at fault, many rear drivers accept the responsibility for the collision and are happy to pay to get out of all the legal and insurance junk that could happen, even though the front driver is really at fault and is committing fraud.
Anyway, I never thought I'd have any first or secondhand experience of brake checking. 'I mean, who would do this crap around here?', I thought, way too optimistically But, a couple of friends of mine were going camping last weekend. They were in their pickup truck, pulling a camper. My friend was following the traffic in front of him at a good distance, being quite cautious. Suddenly a car pulled into the gap he'd left between him and the traffic in front and slammed on the brakes. My friend hit him, there was no way he could avoid it. The braker got out of his car, wouldn't really exchange insurance info with my friend, checked that my friend had no dashcams (he didn't), and then asked for 200 bucks. My friend, an 80 year old man, was so flustered, he gave the guy some money and off the guy went. Now, I wanna try to find that man (totally impossible) and get him arrested (not likely!). *sigh*
Whatcha think? Have you had any experiences like this? And, here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Thursday's here!
Almost the weekend, good! Hope all is well with everyone. It hit 90 degrees here last Tuesday, which was insane. From the low the night before, to 90, was almost 50 degrees! Today, it hit 75. Better, better, more like a September should be. No rain, and it shows. Ohh well, gonna plant the garlic this coming week, no matter what!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Checking air brakes
.
was once a thing on the interstates for the
big 18 wheelers in the steep grades of the
mountainous regions. It was intended as a
wake-up call to truckers of the need to check
momentum going forward.
Air brake valves generally do not fail in the closed
position (brakes) but are more prone to failure
when in the open condition (free wheeling). I
would defer to soryang on this as my big rig
experience is limited.
Jakeing is now a thing truckers use to slow down
before applying their brakes. This technique uses
the compression of the engine to drop RPM's swiftly.
By releasing internal engine pressure, the cylinders
almost stop the engine from turning and (being still
connected to the drive train thru the tranny) checks
wheel rotation. You can hear this as a very loud aargh
sound emanating from the cab area. In some places
jakeing is illegal, as it is a very bothersome noise to
those unfortunate enough to live near the hiway by a
steep grade.
Which is probably more than you ever wanted to know
about the topic. Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Pretty good description Q
I'm no technical or mechanical person, but my understanding was, that the driver should not allow momentum to buildup beyond a certain point on downhill grades because the energy on the truck would increase to a point where you would lose control of the truck, no matter what you did. This applied not just to braking but also steering control on downhill curves. Obviously, truck gross weight was a factor. If you were heavy then there is greater caution required. If the downhill energy on the truck went above the "truck" speed limit, generally posted separately on major down grades, you could potentially be in a situation where speeding (momentum) would reach the point where brakes could potentially fail. With a heavy load, the driver had to be more proactive and start decelerating well below the posted truck speed limit.
Doing the brake check method to stay below the truck speed limit, prevented both brake overheat and failure, and loss of steering control and going over the cliff on curves on steep downhill grades.
Sometimes there would be overrun exits with uphill grades with soft dirt or sand at the very end to use if one's truck was a "runaway truck" on a mountain downhill highway.
I think manual shifting gears was something of an art on heavy grades. You didn't want to take the truck out of gear to shift, and then not be able to find the right gear right away. I would find the right gear at the top of the downhill, and stay in it, all the way down to bottom, and then downshift for the next climb.
This is my recollection anyway, it's been a long time. I'd have to go back to driving school to drive a tractor trailer again, my credentials expired some time ago, so take it with a grain of salt.
語必忠信 行必正直
Yeah, that all sounds about right
.
would not climb into a tractor at this point
requires skills lost a long time ago and just
ain't coming back as far as I know.
Did not consider the steering aspect but perhaps
the newer tractors have a chip to read the stresses
in real time? Dunno. Thought you would be a good
resource on these matters. OTR scores rack-up to
almost a million miles in some cases. Wow. To the moon
and back a few times.
Cheers.
Zionism is a social disease
Once again,
you are teaching me new things. Thank you
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Jakeing is basic downshifting 101
Especially with a manual transmission. It's also known as compression braking, using the compression in the cylinders to slow the vehicle. Diesel truck engines have enormous compression ratios.
I engage in it all the time. It is just part of my driving technique.
It saves your brakes big time.
Even in my vehicles with automatic transmissions I downshift on offramps and downhills. I been known to get 50,000 miles+ out of a set of brakes.
Even in my electric leaf I shift to "brake charging", which is like a soft downshifting that increases the rolling resistance. And charges the battery.
Riding a motorcycle is the best experience in learning how to "work the gears" in that you really have to downshift every time you come to a stop. Obviously you don't come to a stop in 5th gear and then punch the gearshift 5 times to reach 1st gear. You downshift one gear at a time until you come to a stop.
Same basic principle when driving a manual transmission anything.
Brake rebuilds are extremely expensive, and finding a competent mechanic is getting really hard. They are as hard to find as a competent front end & alignment mechanic, near impossible.
Have a safe day.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yeah, have lots of miles on
.
trannies, cycles and other vehicles included
not too swift on big diesels, except for boats.
On vessels of a certain size, it is either go or
not. Brakes are basically 'reverse' as the water
does not corespondent to that concept.
Thanks for giving us an idea of what is involved.
soft braking is a new concept for me, but guess
experiencing it frequently. Each vehicle is different.
The present ride (Ford Ranger) does automatically
downshift while slowing down. Which helps with the
wear on the brake pads.
Zionism is a social disease
I've always driven manual transmissions...
only cars though. However, I downshift to 'brake' all the time. Never thought about it in terms of driving big trucks and so on! Thanks!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
This was good to learn!
Thank you. Although my grandad was a truck driver, he never really talked about it to us grandkids, so I never knew about this kind of braking, or why. Now I know a bit! This is awesome
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning, sima!
I didn't know this particular driving hazard had a name.
After watching that video, I am glad we have no trips planned!
Jimmy Kimmel was cancelled for the time being. He said Kirk's shooter was not a leftie. Iirc, Robinson is a registered Republican, but the only ones allowed to speak truth in moderate tones are righties, so it seems.
Court this morning, tacos this evening, and I am already hungry for them.
Thanks for the OT, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I sorta felt the same...
about not having any journeys coming up soon, after I watched the video and heard my friend's story as well. Sheez.
Tacos for dinner sounds good. I had chicken tenders, and broccoli. Heh. Now I think I'm gonna haveta make tacos for dinner tomorrow.
Kimmel was right, Kirk's killer was not a lefty. Even if the killer was having a relationship with his transgender roomie, that doesn't make him a lefty. That won't stop the right-wing from milking this for all it's worth.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Great video, Sima!
It was like a trip down memory lane.
語必忠信 行必正直
No way
.
they be hitching triple trailers?
I thought the doubles were scary.
The hell, only do the interstates on
long haul missions. Kinda a strange
life that.
Zionism is a social disease
I saw a few triples
... I never saw a triple rig like that in the middle of the video. The ones I saw were UPS, or similar companies. I don't know if UPS still uses these. Seemed like they were day haulers, iirc. I don't like doubles either. You can't back up. Wonder how they handle on snow or icy roads?
Never drove other than two axles on a single (dry) trailer. So 80,000 lbs gross. I was forced to pull reefers a few times. Didn't like the noise, can't sleep during breaks. If there are triple axles, they can carry more. Used to see this mostly on fuel tankers and dump trucks. Heavy driving is a pain; that is close to the gross weight limit of 80k.
語必忠信 行必正直
guessing here
.
80 k is getting into the freight train realm
roads are not built for that haulage weight
you see very few passenger cars on the
RR tracks (as an aside sorta joke)
glad you were able to move goods
keeps the machinery woking
Zionism is a social disease
Not trying to one up anyone
But I've personally seen tractors pulling four trailers in the Australian outback, and have heard of even longer rigs.
They probably were not hauling car batteries, but not potato chips either. Don't know what their weight limits are down under.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I was looking at axle weight limits
...for a tandem axle trailer. Most states is 17k LBS. The load on the axle is what crushes the road bed. I used to guestimate my max net load could be, at about 20 tons, iirc. 15k trailer, 18k tractor, leaving 47k for the load, to stay under the 80k max gross weight. The other limits constrained by balancing the load forward 60/40, and the limit on adjusting the spacing of rear tandem axles would almost always limit gross weight somewhat below 80k lbs.
It is so much easier to drive light, like with a USPS, UPS, Fedex, etc., load, or light grocery/retail products...better handling, shorter braking distances, usually allowed to bypass weigh stations...no messing with the axles. Kick the tires, light the fire...
語必忠信 行必正直
Dang that song brought back memories...
Dang. Used to listen to the Eddie Rabbitt version while driving all around the USA. Wasn't truck driving though, just trying to find a way and place to settle... heh.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
A question for the wizards here
.
how do you know what you are eating?
I assume protein is somewhere in the chicken,
tho not really sure. the rice and corn are pretty much
straight forward? beginning to wonder if the amount of
stuff going down the gullet is useful.
Zionism is a social disease
As an apprentice wizard
The meat of the chicken is good for you in moderate amounts, but leave the skin and trim any fat. Also don't use coatings such as shake n' bake. Baking is the preferred method, try not to fry it.
Only brown rice is beneficial, white rice, not so much, as most is empty carbs and has excessive arsenic in it. Unless it's California white rice.
Corn is ok in moderation, as long as it's not overly processed.
Potatoes are not so good for you (pure carbs) unless they are cooked and cooled, as in potato salad. Ironically, the potato skins are packed with vitamins and minerals that are really good for you.
The usual disclaimer, I'm no pro. Just an apprentice who hasn't yet earned his wand.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Thanks
.
know most of that stuff
but have forgotten a lot of it
we get local produce and
meats, so processing is not
so much of an issue here
my belly tells me when something
good comes down the pike
making a chicken piccata today for
the local food group, maybe some pasta
we all get a cookbook and are tasked with
making one of the recipes. This month it is
everyday italian by Giada De Laurentiis
and didn't want to do the red sauce routine.
Have never made the dish before, so got the lemons
squeezed and capers rinsed.
Yumm
Zionism is a social disease
food science
I don't know any science on this, eating habits are mostly cultural as far as I can tell. I eat what went down well in the past. Other than that, I go by the "taste test." If it doesn't taste right don't eat it. I learned this during survival training. Of course, if there's nothing else they said, "eat bugs." Seemed contradictory to me. Lately I've noticed some fruits tasting like insecticide. If that happens we discard the whole bag. Been having a lot of trouble this way with apples, sometimes grapes. Also, everything in moderation, etc.
I actually know a "food scientist" really well, and his diet seems to have no rules at all. In fact, he seems to eat a steady diet of the worst foods, fried foods, processed foods like bacon, and those dried meat sticks with nitrates, snacks like potato chips, sugary snacks. He does drink a lot of diet coke. Maybe I'm wrong maybe all that is good for you.
語必忠信 行必正直
Yeah, but I think your friend is overreacting
.
to his science. There is a happy medium between
ding dongs and bugler brown rice. Like you, if it does
not pass the sniff test, fogettabout it. Ain't hungry enough
to poison myself. Been down that road before. Rather starve.
Zionism is a social disease
Taste Test...
That's basically what I go by. I too have noticed the taste of insecticides and so on. Is it getting worse, I wonder?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hmmm...
I think I know what I'm eating because I grow it myself, at least the veggies and herbs and some fruits. BUT... I do not grow meat, just can't do the butchering myself. Would be a vegetarian but hubby likes his steak. So, I dunno what I'm eating, gotta admit.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good mornng Sima. A cheap hack to simulate a
brake check is a switch clipped below the dash to turn on the brake lights allowing one to momentarily put the fear of goe into tailgaters without actually mashing the pedal. Most of my life I've lived where there a re plenty of looney drivers who will chop one without doing an intentional brake check, but who are simply inconsiderete sobs who"need" to get over NOW and force their way in.
As to compresion braking, I was brought up to always use compression breaking before the pedal, "driving ahead", of course, because brake jobs cost money. Of course, this was partly the result of always driving pre-owned fifties clunkers. My current RAM is a slush box, but has a button on the wheel allowing one to quickly select and of 7 semi-fixed gears. This is a major boon when towing (my last one had it too) On those long/steep downhills, like Soryang says, you grab the appropriate gear up near the top of the grade and let the engine moderate your speed the whole way down with only a few light taps on the old stop pedal to keep the rpms at a reasonable level.
Beyond that, I see that there were two "suicide" lynchings in Mississippi, one of whom had 3 broken limbs, or so I read. Nothing seems to have changed down there at all.
Still hot locally, threatened "dry lightnng" whatever that is, with associated fire risk. Off to Sonoma for the day, or most of it, but need to return before rush hour, so need to get going pretty much pronto.
be weell and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
An old coworker
back in MA commuted from up in New Hampshire, the "live free or die" state. And he absolutely hated tailgaters. His solution was to mount two 110,000 candlepower aircraft landing lights on his rear bumper, with a dash switch. When someone got up his bum, whammo- that driver wouldn't see much for a few minutes. Worked a treat, or so he said, and he'd happily pay the fine afterwards when he'd get tickets for "unapproved equipment".
He never caused an accident that I heard of- but having seen a demo of the system in a parking lot, I can't imagine how. Still, it is better than an actual brake check would have been.
New Hampshire is such an interesting place. It got really fun in the 70s when someone discovered that the New Hampshire Throughway tokens (which cost 5 cents each at the time) worked in the New York City subway turnstiles. So every weekend, there's be lots of New York plates driving up to buy turnpike tokens. New York told New Hampshire to change their tokens, and New Hampshire told NYC to go pound sand... Or the people from NY and Connecticut who would drive all the way across MA to buy untaxed liquor at the New Hampshire state liquor stores. Connecticut started to send their troopers to drive across MA to wait in the parking lot to hassle CT residents for buying their liquor there- so the NH staties started busting the CT troopers for loitering. Fun people!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Yeah, used to see the staties
.
hanging out at the NH likker stores
saving 20 cents to the dollar is probably
enough incentive for MA and RI boozers
to make the trek. Remember my grandpa
in upstate NY would drive to VT to save a
few bucks while stocking-up.
Would spot a woodchuck in an adjacent field,
pull over and shoot at the critter with a shotgun
he had loaded in the trunk. Fun times.
Zionism is a social disease
I hate tailgaters
Never thought about doing that to stop them. Hmmm.
I read about those 'suicides'. Then discovered that both of them were black men and suddenly wasn't so sure those were suicides at all.
Hope the trip to Sonoma was good and quick! I used to love going there, when I was ... mumblemumblemumble... much younger :).
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
The pictures of the two lynched men
showed a young black man and a middle-aged white man. The black college student had been beaten and had 3 broken bones. no signs of beating on the white homeless man's body.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Mississippi justice
Doubt the perps will be found.
Zionism is a social disease
Eeeepp
Boy, I sure didn't see that pic correctly. Maybe I saw two pics of the young guy? I dunno. Dang. Shaking my head at myself. Lynching for sure.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Dupe, dupe, dupe, of Earl
showing my age, I guess. What to do with this?
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Dance, dance...
And sing along :).
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
His horn went beep, beep, beep
switched from chevy to ford
.
here lately
used to look down on fords
but a cheap replacement
cause they are plentiful
easier to get parts for an '09
as opposed to an Astro which
was discontinued
Zionism is a social disease
You do know that Ford is an acronym, right?
The 2 most common variants I know are:
1) Fix Or Repair Daily, and
2) Found On Road(side) Dead
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
oh yeah
.
fix or repair daily sticks in my mind
last one I drove was a '65 Econoline van
bought it in '73 for $500, sold it in '74 for
the same amount. good basic transpo.
only had to twist the distributer cap and
rebuild the carb. Easy to work on.
Zionism is a social disease
Thanks for the video, Sima
And the OT.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.